The Next Chapter
by mydoctortennant
Summary: NEE UNIVERSE: A small one shot that fits in the epilogue of NEE.


The last six years had gone so fast.

At first, it had seemed to trundle slowly by. The first month of their relationship had been a strange one to explain. Telling her father had been a perplexing experience for him; a month old relationship with a thirteen week old embryo growing inside of her? That had taken some explaining. From an accidental pregnancy to a relationship, but Tom Leodegrance had always been an accepting man; he'd taken the news within his stride and accepted that if his daughter thought it was for the best then he wouldn't disagree.

Four months later and their lives had changed completely. Instead of living in the ER department of the hospital they relocated for a month to the Neonatal ICU. Arthur of course still had to work downstairs but the rest of his time he spent with his two girls; his fiancée and his daughter.

It wasn't until the following June, a little over a year after they had first entered into a relationship, that they took the next step in their mixed up lives together. With their eight month old daughter in his arms and their family and friends making up the congregation it really was the best day of her life.

Gwen often considered what she would have thought about Alexandria's birth had the situation surrounding it not been quite so traumatic and problematic. It scared her to think that she could have lost her daughter that day and there was no telling what that would have done to her relationship with Arthur. It would have been the ultimate test.

Still, they had taken extra care after that. They didn't want any extra surprises cropping up on them. They were a family of three and they liked it. It worked for them. Gwen went back to work part-time when Lexie started sleeping through the nights and she wouldn't feel as bad leaving her with her father during the days. He'd given up work eventually and started living life as a free man, pandering to his granddaughters every need. Even Uther had offered himself up to lend a helping hand should they ever need him.

And so the world moved on. The next years passed like a whirlwind.

Suddenly she was four years old and starting school. Like Uther had wanted, they sent her to Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School with every intention of her moving on to St Paul's Girls School once she was eleven. According to Uther, money was no object when it came to an education and near insisted that his only grandchild be given the best that he could afford. He'd gone as far as offering to pay for her school fees if that was what they wanted. They had, of course, refused outright. But they did agree with him on some things; education was important.

And it was something she seemed to enjoy. Lexie would come home from school every day talking of a new friend she had made in her class or a new skill she had learnt. When it was opened up to her she joined the school's choir along with going to dance lessons twice a week away from school. Arthur often joked that their four year old daughter had more of a social life than the pair of them had had in their entire lives.

It was all an adventure to them. A new and interesting adventure that always took them to a place they didn't expect to end up.

By the time Lexie was five years old they didn't feel quite so bad about leaving her with her grandparents for extended periods of time. Never anything longer than a weekend but it gave them a little space away from the world and gave them the chance to relax.

For their fifth wedding anniversary they had taken the opportunity to get away. Arthur had taken his father up on his offer of letting them use the house up in the Lake District. It was relaxing and they often went up there for short breaks, taking Lexie with them and walking around the lakes. She usually complained about it but when they got the tyre swing put in there wasn't anything getting in the way of her and it. But this was their weekend. They needed space to breathe and to be alone with each other.

They sat in the house's surrounding garden on a chequered blanket looking up at the stars that were cast so clearly in the night sky. They were always so much clearer there than in the city. They'd ordered in Chinese and bought several expensive bottles of wine from the off-license before their trip which they drank lying beneath the stars.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have a bigger family?" Gwen asked, seemingly out of the blue since their conversation had died down a good five minutes ago and they had been enjoying the comfortable silence ever since.

"Sometimes," Arthur admitted putting his glass down on the paving slab behind him and laying back into the blanket as he wrapped his arm around her body, bringing her into him, "But then I remember about the two women I already have and wonder if I could cope with anymore."

Gwen moved to lean on her elbow and look down at him; her husband: now thirty-three years old but not a day of it showing on his face. She rested her hand over his heart, feeling the steady beat beneath her fingers, "I know you. I see you looking at expectant mothers we get at work, or the new born babies. You get this look."

"Who knows what the future will bring," he said, kissing her softly on the temple. She settled back down against his chest, tracing her fingers over the soft material of his shirt. The evening was warm, the sun had settled behind the hills casting a dusty pink across the clouds. The breeze was slow and the haze of the day left its simmering heat behind, "You'd best not be falling asleep on me," Arthur jested running his hand through her hair.

"I can't help it if you're comfy," she said nuzzling into his torso with a grin split cross her features. Arthur ran his hand up her bare leg, resting it where the material of her dress started, mid-thigh. Gwen bent her leg at the knee and hooked her leg lazily across the top of his and settled herself against him. It had been a long day of travelling and she was wiped.

"And after all I had planned," he whispered jokingly into her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin.

"We've got a whole two days to ourselves. We can commit to your _plans_ then," she replied kissing his shirt above his heart. Arthur slipped is hand under the material of her dress to rest it on the curve of her bottom.

"You wouldn't have worn French knickers if you hadn't have intended to show them off," he said huskily, running his index finger beneath the hem of the lingerie to prove his point, tugging at the lacy material inching them down over her hips. Gwen said his name in warning, "Guine_vere_."

x

She gasped as he pushed her against the wall. Her legs were about his waist as he carried her from the garden in the general direction of their holiday bed, her previous exhaustion forgotten in the back of her mind.

His trousers and pants were already about his thighs and her knickers were long since discarded from beneath her dress. She could feel why he was stopping. Gwen cupped his jaw in her hands and kissed him firmly on the lips. His hands were busy holding her to him.

She leant her back against the wall taking some of the weight from him so he could move. The material of her dress creased and bunched together as he pushed himself firmly between her legs. It was a welcome intrusion as she gripped onto his shoulders so hard that her nails dug into his muscles.

X

Coming down from their shared high nearly made Arthur trip over his own feet as they finally made it to their bed, both of them still mostly dressed. Arthur ridded himself of his trousers and pulled his pants back up as he settled against the fluffed pillows.

He pulled her into a long drawn out kiss. Gwen sighed against his lips before slipping her tongue past his lips to taste the wine still lingering on his. It quickly became lazy; small kisses with the occasional touch of a tongue.

He nuzzled into the crook of her neck, taking in the scent of the thin layer of sweat that had dried on her skin. Gwen brought her hand around to gently toy with the tendrils of his hair as he placed a series of soft kisses to her pulse point. She sighed with a smile on her face.

She turned her head to catch his lips again in a brasher kiss. With one hand she unhooked the lower buttons of his shirt, "I thought you were tired," he mumbled against her lips.

"I thought you had plans."

X

Gwen relaxed against her husband's chest, head resting above his heart. She gently tapped out the rhythm on his bare pec. The sound itself was gradually lulling her to sleep; perfectly content and completely exhausted.

"Happy anniversary," Arthur said against the top of her head with a smile against her hair. In her sated state Gwen grinned and pressed a kiss to his body. He gently traced a line down her arm, his hand stopping at her waist. He pulled the thin sheet up over her naked body pulling it beneath her arm as she slowly drifted off.

"Happy anniversary," she replied, voice barely above a whisper. She shifted so she was lying back against the mattress. Arthur rolled onto his side, resting his hand over his wife's naturally flat stomach.

With one final smile that ghosted on her lips, Gwen latched her fingers through his and let her body finally succumb to sleep.

hr

Holding her daughter's hand to the side of the trolley, Gwen took down the shop aisle as quickly as her thirty-seven week bump would allow her. Lexie pulled, trying to get away from her to go and look at a load of Disney toys they had on display as gift ideas for Easter.

"Not today sweetheart," she said gritting her teeth against a sharp twinge in her stomach and lower back, _Not now._

"I only want to look."

"I know but can we just get what we came for and go. I'm tired. Come back with Grampy tomorrow, yeah?" Lexie pouted, "Unfortunately for you, your father made me immune to that look. It doesn't work on me."

She led Lexie around the store, stopping in the bakery next to the counter, "What do you want, Lex?" she said as another twinge coursed through her lower back. She pulled her phone from her pocket checking the time, "Fifteen minutes," she completely missed what Lexie said to her.

"Who's next?" the teen behind the counter asked looking moderately bored, "How can I help?"

She looked at his nametag, "Take this, Joel," Gwen replied handing him her phone, "Go into the phonebook; call Arthur."

"Uh, okay?"

"Tell him 'Gwen's water just broke'," she said as calmly as she could manage as she felt the dampness spread down the material of her trousers.

"Tell him what?" the teen exclaimed going as pale as Gwen felt.

"Just do it, _please_!"

"Okay, uh, okay!" the held the phone to his ear and listened to it ring, "Hello? Arthur? Hi, my name's Joel. I work in Sainsburys. She gave it to me!"

"Joel!"

"Right! Gwen says that her water has broken. In the bakery. I can bring her. Okay. Okay. Right, okay. Bye."

"Lexie, come here!" Gwen shouted. The girl appeared next to her, holding onto the trolley, "You have to go to Grampy's, okay, hunny?"

"Where's that?" Joel asked.

"South West London."

"Right. But I've got to take you to the hospital."

"When we get there we'll give her to a woman called Morgana, she can take her."

"Right," the boy nodded still looking pale, "Let's go shall we."

"Yes. Let's."

X

Pushing the door open of the private room, Arthur led his daughter to his wife. In her arms, cradled against her chest was the latest addition to their family. She had one hand atop his chest rubbing gentle circles above his heart.

"Jammy!" Lexie grinned as she freed herself from her father's grasp and ran to the bedside.

"Careful, Blobs," Arthur warned as she clambered up onto the side of the bed. Gwen moved over to accommodate for her.

"You know I agreed to this, but if I ever bring it up again tell me it's a terrible idea," Gwen said faux cheerily as Arthur rounded on her side of the bed.

He stooped to kiss her on the forehead as Lexie busied herself with fussing over her brother, she looked at the white label around his wrist reading off his name with a smile on her face ignoring her parents altogether, "I'll see what you say in a year or so."

"Why's he sleeping?" Lexie asked randomly looking up to her parents.

"That's what babies do, Lex. Sleep and cry and eat," Gwen replied, gently pushing his hair out of his face, "That's all you did once."

"He's boring. I wasn't boring," Lexie pouted and crossed her arms.

"No Blobs," Arthur laughed; he ran his fingers through her loose curls and gently cupped cheek. If anything Arthur was thankful that Benjamin Ewan Pendragon was a boring baby. He didn't think that he could cope with another ordeal like Alexandria again. Once was enough, "You were never boring."

"Can I hold him?" she asked looking eagerly between her mother and father. Gwen nodded, pushing an unruly curl behind her ear.

"Go sit in the chair," she instructed. As Lexie scrambled down from the bed to the hospital chair Gwen handed the bundle in her arms to Arthur who rounded the bed as slowly as he could so not to cause too much anger from his eldest child but revelling in the feel of the boy in his arms.

"You've got to it still, Blob," Arthur instructed, she sat up straight and stopped swinging her legs, "But relax," she visibly dropped her shoulders a couple of inches and had her arms ready in front of her, "Okay?" Arthur didn't move away from her any further than necessary. She had a steady grip of him, but Arthur didn't want to chance it any more than he had to.

"He looks funny," she concluded.

Arthur had his hand cupped around the back of his son's head, rubbing the pad of his thumb over his fine hair, "I'm sure he'd say the same about you."

The last seven years had gone by so fast. From their first contact, through to their first child and the start of their marriage to their second child and the start of the next chapter in their lives together.

They just hoped that the next seven years didn't slip them by so quickly.


End file.
